Board of Directors

Ambassador Alice Dear, Board Chair, Africanist, businesswoman and former banker, is President of A.M. Dear and Associates, a consulting boutique promoting private sector investment and public-private partnerships in Africa. She also lends her voice and talents to advocate on behalf of women’s empowerment and gender equity as critical components to economic development.

President William Clinton appointed Ms. Dear, with unanimous Senate confirmation and ambassador-level rank, as U.S. Executive Director of the African Development Bank, Africa’s premier financial institution. From 1994-2000 she represented the U.S. Government on the Board of Directors at Bank headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. represents the Non-Governmental Organization affiliate at the United Nations. Ambassador Dear is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Planning Committee of Global Summit of Women. She is a graduate of Pace University (MBA) and Howard University (BA).

Gordon Gray received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and two graduate degrees from Columbia University, one in Middle Eastern languages and cultures and one in journalism, class of 1977.

Gray was a newspaper reporter for four years and entered the family business in the area of media, cable, radio and most recently magazines. His interest in Women’s eNews is a natural outgrowth of his studies and experience. He sees Women’s eNews as an enormous opportunity to empower women globally. Gray was the force behind creating the Arabic version of the site to help increase awareness of Arabic culture and language, as well as give Arabic-speaking women in the world a valuable source of reliable information.

As a philanthropist, he’s been a lifetime supporter of education and the arts.

Harry William Haines is a Professor in the School of Communication & Media at Montclair State University. He teaches courses on media industries, communication theory, and gender. He has written extensively on media representations of the Vietnam War and is completing a memoir about his experience as a gay anti-war soldier in Vietnam. He is a former reporter and producer of broadcast news, focusing on state government and the criminal justice system.

Sheena Jain works at Stripe, a technology company focused on building infrastructure to allow businesses around the globe to more easily access the capabilities of financial systems. In addition to her service on the board of Women’s eNews, she serves on the board of Spark, the largest network of millennial philanthropists in the world. Prior to Stripe, Sheena was a lawyer at a major US law firm. Sheena is passionate about working to empower girls and women worldwide and addressing the socioeconomic barriers that limit access to higher education in the United States. Sheena spent seven years in Saudi Arabia and speaks fluent Hindi. She received her BA from UC Berkeley and her law degree from Villanova University, and lives in San Francisco. She was elected to the Board in 2015.

In Case You Missed It

It is being hailed as the most progressive state policy so far, going further than New Jersey, California and Rhode Island in various respects. But its showcase potential won’t be tested until the program gets going in 2018.